Board Com'rs Leflore Cty. v. Cent. Nat. Bk.

1936 OK 359, 57 P.2d 257, 177 Okla. 11, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 716
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 28, 1936
DocketNo. 24966.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1936 OK 359 (Board Com'rs Leflore Cty. v. Cent. Nat. Bk.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board Com'rs Leflore Cty. v. Cent. Nat. Bk., 1936 OK 359, 57 P.2d 257, 177 Okla. 11, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 716 (Okla. 1936).

Opinion

RILEY, J.

This is an action commenced fin the district court of LeFlore county by the Central National Bank of Poteau against the board of county commissioners of Le-Flore county to recover judgment on certain county warrants amounting in all to $17,351.22, exclusive of interest.

The defendant board of county commissioners answered by general denial. The Kansas City Southern Railway Company and John M. Kurn and John G. Lonsdale, receivers of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company, as taxpayers, asked and obtained leave to intervene.

Of the warrants.sued upon some were general county fund warrants issued for the fiscal years 1925-26, 1930-31, 1931-32, and 1932-33. Others were warrants drawn against special funds such as the crippled children’s fund, the tick eradication fund, and the tuberculosis patient’s fund. Interveners assailed the validity of warrants numbered 97, 100, 105, 108, 109, 110, and 119, against the tubercular fund, series 1930-31, upon the alleged ground that they were issued for purposes for which there was no appropriation for said fiscal year ; warrants Nos. 49; 51, and 52, crippled children’s fund, series 1930-31, in that certain items included in the claims upon which they were issued were for indebtedness arising during a previous fiscal year. General fund warrants, fiscal year 1930-31, numbered between 1658 to 1713, inclusive, were assailed upon alleged ground that sufficient cash had been received by the county to pay all of said warrants in full; the same claim was made as to all tick eradication funds 1930-32. Crippled children’s fund warrants, series 1931-32, Nos. 79 to 82, inclusive, and-88, were assailed as being issued for expenditures unauthorized by law. Certain general fund warrants, series 1931-32, were assailed upon the alleged ground that sufficient money had been received from the income from said fiscal year to pay same •in full. General fund warrants, series 1931-32, numbered 742 and 755, were assailed as being issued for purposes for which no appropriation had been made. General fund warrants, series 1930-31, numbered between 1800 and 1909. were assailed as being issued in excess of the income and revenue provided for said fiscal year. Other warrants sued upon were assailed as having been paid. It appearing that such warrants as were assailed upon the last ground had in fact been paid, no judgment was rendered thereon. Warrants issued against the crippled children’s fund, series 1930-31, were in part found by (he court to have been issued upon claims arising in the previous fiscal year, and judgment, to that extent, was denied.

On all other warrants involved judgment was for plaintiff, and interveners appeal.

In the first proposition presented, plaintiffs in error claim that no judgment should bo rendered against the county upon any of the warrants, under the petition, because said petition on’y alleged that said warrants had not been paid because the taxes had not been collected. This identical question was presented and decided adversely to the contention of plaintiffs in error in Board of Co. Com’rs of Le Flore County et al. v. Central Nat. Bk. of Poteau, 171 Okla. 42, 41 P. (2d) 853. wherein it is held:

“The holder of a valid county warrant *13 wliicli cannot be paid because of failure of the county to collect all the taxes levied for the purpose for which such warrant was issued is not chargeable with such failure to collect and is entitled to judgment on such warrant.”

See, also, Kansas City Southern R. Co. v. First Nat. Bank of Heavener, 171 Okla. 472, 43 P. (2d) 713.

It is next contended that the warrants sued upon were all void on their face because they do not show thereon the amount of the appropriation for the purposes for which they were issued and do not show the amount of the fund expended. This Question was decided adversely to the contention of plaintiffs in error in Kansas City Southern R. Co. v. First Nat. Bank of Heavener, supra.

The next proposition is that defendant in error did not comply with chapter 106, S. L. 1925.

Said act was held not to apply to county warrants in Excise Board of Creek County v. Gulf Pipe Line Co., 156 Okla. 103, 9 P. (2d) 460.

The next proposition is that warrants (tubercular warrants) Nos. 97, 99, 100, 105, 108, 109, 110, and 119, series 1930-31, aggregating- $75.86, were illegal and void for the reason that they were issued for purposes for which there was no appropriation made for said fiscal year. There is no evidence whatever that there was no appropriation made for said fund for said years.

The claims upon which the warrants were based appear in part at least to have been made against other funds; i. e., when they came up for consideration, or at some time before, the claims were changed so as to appear against other funds, but when finally allowed they were allo-wed and warrants were drawn against the tuberculosis fund.

The court found from the evidence that they were properly allowed again'st said fund, and, as stated, there was no evidence showing the lack of an appropriation for said fund, for said year, or that said warrants were not within such appropriation. The presumption and evidence reasonably tend to support the finding and judgment.

There was much carelessness in the office of tlio county clerk in keeping the accounts, but the finding of the court must be sustained. It is asserted that because the answers of interveners were verified and contained allegations that there was no appropriation for that purpose, the judgment was erroneous as to such warrants. Mere allegations of this nature, whether verified or not, are not sufficient to dispense with proof in support thereof, especially where the invalidity of a warrant, prima facie valid, is sought to be shown.

As to warrants 49, 50, and 52, crippled children’s fund, series 1930-31, it is contended that said warrants are void because the claims for which said warrants were drawn show upon their face that the indebtedness represented by said claims and warrants was incurred during a previous fiscal year. This contention was made at the trial, and the court very properly excluded from the judgment the warrants representing- that part of the indebtedness shown to have been incurred during a previous fiscal year. The balance was properly allowed.

Some objection is made to certain items in the claims for transportation of crippled children to and from the hospital. The claim, as we understand it, is that only actual expense of physical transportation is allowable, such as railroad fare or bus fare. The items objected to appear to be trivial and are for food or meals en route.

It is next contended that 29 of the warrants involved, series 1930-31, amounting to $1,989.85, were invalid and did not constitute an obligation of the county for the reason that sufficient cash revenue had been received by the county treasurer for that fiscal year to pay ail the general fund 1930-31 warrants issued.

The condition appears to have been brought about by using a part of the money so collected to pay interest on prior warrants. An appropriation of $1,000 had been made to pay interest on general fund warrants. This was apparently insufficient.

It is said that this court held in Jones v. Blaine, 149 Okla. 153, 300 P.

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1936 OK 359, 57 P.2d 257, 177 Okla. 11, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 716, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-comrs-leflore-cty-v-cent-nat-bk-okla-1936.